Deepa's Jottings

Anand Sankar, who transported his two cats from Bangalore to Delhi by air, writes:  Just thought I should share my experience of transporting my cats by air (domestic, within India), could be useful for anyone! From a cursory reading online and through forums, I found that budget airlines don't have much interest in transporting pet animals. And I wouldn't trust a budget airline with my pets. The choice boiled down to Air India or Jet Airways. -- Air India has a strange policy of not allowing pets in cargo holds. They have to be carried in the cabin, but only…

Ameen Ahmed writes from his  home near Hebbal : I get a frantic call during a critically important meeting with a client in south Bengaluru, by my wife taking care of our child suffering from another bout of asthma for the past two days, alone at home about 2 hours away in North Bengaluru. Apparently a bunch of armed policemen, all but one in civilian clothing, behaving more like gangsters of a B-grade Bollywood flick were forcing their way into our home around 4:20PM today (Fri., 19 Feb. '15). Trying to piece the information collected from the building's security guards,…

Any form of theatre that has to do with puppets seems to exert a great fascination for children. More than adults, they seem to quickly suspend their disbelief, and join the puppets in the fantasy world that is created on stage. Sidhvi, 6 yrs, standing in front of me in the queue, was very excited; "I have seen many plays at Ranga Shankara, I'm looking forward to this one!" she said, with a big smile.  Since Ranga Shankara had advertised "Pacotille", by Cie Crea, as a play for "kids above 5 years", I went,too,  full of eagerness to experience the…

When trash seems to be strewn everywhere in our public spaces, it was heartening to see this sight at the Bannerghatta Zoo. Long may such initiatives last! Zoo, 18th January, 2015.

Swalpa Adjust Maadi (SAM)..this seems to be our attitude towards the others who share our planet. And some of them learn to adjust...but at what cost, still needs to be determined! Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore, 11th Jan 2015.

My friend Priya Venkatesh,  herself a theatre person, told me about another interesting and unusual performance at Jagriti on the 15th of January, 2015. So I went with her and three other friends, to watch "Two Women Talking." The excellent brochure produced by Jagriti talked of story-telling, not as the retailing of fiction, but as the telling of one's life experiences. In fact, the telling of one's personal stories, and listening to those of others, has been designated as a form of therapy for everyone. The two protagonsists, if that is the right word, were Monsoon Bissell and Benaifer Bhadha.…

When my friend Priya Venkatesh told me about the performance of “A Moment of Memory”, I was intrigued by the description of the performance and decided to attend the 8 pm showing at Atta Galatta in Koramangala, on January 10th. The production was by Visual Respiration, a group founded by Aruna Ganesh Ram, and  the show was directed by her.  'An experiential performance based on personal encounters' is the description of the performance in the words of Visual Respiration. It  gives the details about how this production came into being. It was not a “play” in the usual sense of the…

I find it interesting to watch a translation of a play; watching "Maryade Prashne", a translation, by Surendranath, of "Respect", a play in German by Lutz Huebner was an experience on several levels. In the foyer. Pic: Deepa Mohan I was curious to know how a play set in Germany would fit into the present-day milieu, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it melding in so perfectly. It sent out the first message of the play to me...that human equations, and power plays are common to humanity and not restricted to one culture or one nation. The play started…

Centralised numbers released by Indian Railways for citizens' convenience       9760534983 : TTI, Reservation & Meals 9760500000 : cleaning 9760534057 : problem in coach 9760534060 : electricity problems 9920142151 : enquiry problems 9760534063 : RPF & Security 9760534069 : drinking water arrangement 9760534073 : medical   Please use these numbers and give the feedback on how useful you found them during/before/after your journey.   Clarification from my friend: "This was a news item  in India rail info.com site which normally is authentic. However after I managed to contact two of the 9760 series numbers I unearthed the real problem. Apparently it is the set of numbers of Moradabad division…

I took this picture from the top of Nandi Hill. Well, OK, technically, it's not Bangalore...yet. But remember the times when Whitefield, Sarjapura and Yelahanka were not Bangalore, either? The point I want to make is that a new layout has been created...and for all those homes, there is just one young tree, and perhaps some very small plants that one can see. What happened to our culture of planting trees on every road, so that we had shady avenues instead of bare streets? Why do we now have those in authority claiming that "Trees belong only in parks"? I…